Of all the books I've read for school over the past few years, there haven't been many that I've really enjoyed. In thirty years am I really still going to be touched by the Great Wrath of Gatsby's Grapes? Or is it the Great Grapes of Gatsby's Wrath? I can't even keep it straight. When I found out I was going to school overseas, I was THRILLED I wouldn't have to read Dante's Inferno for summer reading. Instead, I was assigned The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which is one of the most powerful, moving, haunting, and thought evoking and books I've ever read. So, sure, you could analyze the heck out of something like the Great Gatsby, which in my opinion is little more than a soap opera with a boat-load of symbolism, or The Old Man and the Sea, which is just the boat-load of symbolism without the soap opera...but just because it makes for good literary discussion doen't make it REAL. The Kite Runner is one of those really, truly REAL books, a novel that perfectly paints modern Afghanistan, shows the contrast between old and new, love and hate, peace and war, happiness and fear, and a whole bunch of other conceptual noun pairs. Not only that, but its littered with brutally honest quotes, like "A land mine. Is there a more Afghan way to die?" Why can't more of our required reading be books like that, ones that really give us a better understanding of the world while still having symbolism that you COULD analyze? Well, except that there are so many better things to discuss regarding this book, I don't really see why you'd want to look at the literary qualities (symbolism, themes, blah, blah, blah) so much as the quality of the story and characters and ideas behind it. . . .
Today I found out that they made a film of The Kite Runner, which is scheduled to come out in November (do yourself a favor and read the book before you see it!!) My first thought was, "Oh $h!t!! they're going to screw it up so badly!" I mean, how many books have been spoiled by their movies? There's Harry Potter, just to name 5, soon to be 7, that Hollywood has murdered. So I started poking around, checking out the trailers (don't watch unless you've read the book, they sort of give a really good part of the book away)...and then I stumbled across www.kiterunner.org and was shocked. The actors are real Afghani boys, who were taken to China to shoot the film, and now live back in war-torn Afghanistan...and they are terrified. Unless you've read the book, you won't really understand, but theres no way to make this movie and NOT toe the line at least a little. It's controversial not in America, but it certainly will be in the Middle East, and the actors and their families have every right to be terrified of what the consequences and burdens their associations with this film will cost them. Their friends, their social standing, their freedoms... So, read the book, check out www.kiterunner.org, and let me know what you think!!
P.S. I know people have been reading my blog so if you are one of them then I would really appreciate it if you would leave me a comment (or email if you don't want everyone to see it) and let me know what you think of me, my writing, my ideas, my blog, whatever.
